EJ Explains: Why in the Russia-Ukraine war, economic sanctions may not work

The news of sanctions being imposed on Russia may be grabbing headlines but the real question is 'Do sanctions really work?'. As Putin continues attack on Ukraine EJ Biz looks ahead by looking back on economic retaliation to war and if it is still effective in 2022.

Given that Russia has faced economic penalties since the occupation of Crimea eight years ago did not alter Moscow's aggression. As experts note - Sanctions only work when they force behavior change,. As with the recently introduced penalties, the past sanctions were surgically applied to hit the elites but did little to change Putin's authority and power.

Decreed in February 1962 and still in place today, American sanctions against Cuba is one of the world's longest-running boycotts by one country against another. Even sanctions running for 60 years were not able to oust Castro or change the economic alignment of Cuba.

Iran faced significant sanctions starting 1987 and reinstated after brief intervals in 2018 but even then targeted sanctions only helped to bring Iran to the negotiating table in 2015.

US sanctions on Venezuela in 15 years haven’t pushed out the country’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro.

A comprehensive study done by Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) concluded that sanctions were partially successful only 34% of the time (they analysed over 170 cases).